Two teams coming off poor series at the plate will try to iron out their offensive woes at each other’s expense over the next four games.
The San Diego Padres, needing wins to run down either the Los Angeles Dodgers or Chicago Cubs in an attempt to earn home-field advantage for the first round of the National League playoffs, will host the Colorado Rockies in the series opener on Thursday night.
San Diego (79-67) fell three games behind first-place Los Angeles in the NL West with a 2-1 loss to Cincinnati on Wednesday. The Padres lost two of three games to the Reds, who limited them to 15 hits in the series.
That was an explosive output compared to Colorado’s experiences in Los Angeles. The Rockies managed only eight hits during a three-game sweep by the Dodgers that included a 9-0 loss in the series finale on Wednesday night.
The Rockies (40-106) managed just two hits off five Los Angeles pitchers and struck out 17 times in the game.
“They threw three really good pitchers at us,” Colorado interim manager Warren Schaeffer said. “This is a tough place to play. Overall, it was a tough series for us.”
Although the Rockies were outscored 19-3 in the series, that’s not as bad as they did during their first trip to San Diego in April. Not only did the Rockies suffer a series sweep, they were shut out in all three games.
And they’ll have to face a pitcher in the series opener who has posted half of his wins against them this year. Right-hander Randy Vasquez (4-6, 3.91 ERA) earned a 10-8 victory over them on Saturday, permitting just two earned runs in six innings off eight hits while striking out three.
It was the first win for Vasquez since a 5-1 decision over the Los Angeles Angels on May 14. He is 2-1 with a 5.40 ERA in five career encounters (all starts) vs. the Rockies.
The Padres will hope for another good outing from Vasquez while conjuring up some hits. Since beating the Dodgers 5-1 on Aug. 23 to take over first place in the West, they are 5-11 and have scored two or fewer runs in six of their losses. That includes the final two games of the Cincinnati series.
San Diego manager Mike Shildt said his team’s batters need to figure out a way to create runs against good pitchers.
“When guys are on their A game, we have to be really tough,” he said. “We have to figure out a way to get better and take quality at-bats throughout. I didn’t see us consistently making the adjustments.”
The Rockies will call on rookie right-hander McCade Brown (0-3, 12.54) on Thursday in an attempt to end their five-game losing streak. He took the loss against Vasquez on Saturday night, due largely to a six-run second inning that knocked him out after only 1 1/3 innings. Brown gave up five hits and six runs, including a three-run homer to Fernando Tatis Jr., in his only career appearance vs. San Diego.
Colorado has dropped 16 of its last 19 games, although it has to win only two more games to avoid matching the Chicago White Sox’s 121 losses of a year ago. That total set the modern-era MLB record for defeats in a season.